Mountain Wanderer Map and Bookstore

About Me

Owner of Mountain Wanderer Map and Book Store and avid hiker for 40 years. Editor of AMC White Mountain Guide and author or co-author of several other White Mountain guidebooks. Member of AMC Four Thousand Footer Committee and WMNF trail adopter.

Saturday, October 6, 2018

DILLY CLIFFS: 10/5/18

A short but steep morning hike up Kinsman Ridge Trail and down a spur trail to a ledge viewpoint on the upper part of the former Dilly Trail. As reported last year by property steward Ken MacGray, the Dilly Trail, located on the Lost River Gorge reservation of the Society for the Protection of NH Forests (SPNHF), was permanently closed after last fall's Kinsman Notch forest fire caused irreparable damage to the trail. The SPNHF recently reopened the upper Dilly Trail as a spur to the viewpoint after doing some trail rehab work. The fire greatly expanded the vista at the ledge viewpoint.

The Kinsman Ridge Trail is steep as it climbs away from Rt. 112, ascending 800 ft. in the first 0.6 mile.

A section of the trail skirts the area burned in the fire. Pin cherry, a "pioneer tree," is already springing up.

Bronzed ferns populate a ridgetop bog.

Nice woods along the spur trail. The spur leaves Kinsman Ridge Trail at a cairn, 0.6 mile up from Rt. 112. There is no sign at present. It is marked by some blue blazes and orange flagging.

The trail bears right at a fork as it approaches the ledge; a rough flagged swath to the left is a fire break cut by firefighters. As shown above, the spur is also a bit rough as it emerges in the burned area.

This is what the ledge viewpoint was like before the fire...

... and after the fire.

There is now a long view down the Lost River valley to the peaks in the Waterville Valley area.

Backlit foliage on the valley floor.

Osceola, Tripyramids, Sleepers, Whiteface and Tecumseh.

Down-look to the Lost River complex.

Looking across the Dilly Cliffs to the Beaver Brook drainage and Mt. Blue.